A/HRC/46/30 belief under international human rights law. 155 Additionally, any limitations must be prescribed by law and be non-discriminatory in both purpose and effect.156 All major international and regional157 human rights instruments forbid discrimination based on religion or belief and article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides a freestanding right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law for all persons. The Special Rapporteur notes that a standard, single-axis approach to non-discrimination may not adequately capture and respond to the forms of disadvantage engendered by Islamophobia. Depending on the context, Islamophobia targets individuals on numerous grounds, including religion or belief, race, nationality, gender, migratory status and ethnic origin, resulting in the intersection and confluence of discrimination based on religion or belief and other grounds. In this regard, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has held that the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination may apply in cases where discrimination on religious grounds intersects with forms of discrimination based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin. 158 Relatedly, the Human Rights Committee has also found that measures banning the wearing of genderspecific religious dress constitutes intersectional discrimination based on gender and religion.159 And the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has clarified that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women necessarily applies to sex- and gender-based discrimination that disproportionately affects certain women on account of their race, ethnicity, religion or belief, caste or other status.160 States must take effective measures to address purposeful and/or de facto (or indirect) discrimination.161 Increasingly, international human rights bodies are calling upon States to adopt measures to prevent, diminish and eliminate the conditions and attitudes that cause or perpetuate discrimination. 162 This obligation to dismantle discriminatory structures can extend to policies that are rooted in and propagate negative stereotypes, including stereotypes based on religious, racial, gendered, migratory and disability status. 163 Furthermore, Human Rights Council resolution 16/18 explicitly sets out the need to combat denigration and negative religious stereotyping of persons. Both the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee have expressed concern about reports of stereotypical representations of Muslims in media, on social media platforms and by politicians. 164 They have also 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 16 The Human Rights Committee, in its general comment No. 22 (1993), explicitly excludes national security as a ground for permissible limitations on the right to freedom of religion or belief (para. 8). See also A/HRC/34/30. The Special Rapporteur acknowledges that regional human rights law may differ in certain factual circumstances. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 22 (1993), para. 5, and A/HRC/34/30, para. 41. Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights), art. 14; American Convention on Human Rights, arts. 1, 24 and 27; African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 28; and Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, art. 1 (a). Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 32 (2009), para. 7; P.S.N. v. Denmark (CERD/C/71/D/36/2006), para. 6.3. F.A. v. France (CCPR/C/123/D/2662/2015 and Corr.1), para. 8.13. General recommendation No. 32 (2014), para. 6. Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, art. 4. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), para. 8 (b). Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 5; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 5; General Assembly resolution 63/185 (calling upon States not to resort to profiling based on stereotypes founded on racial, ethnic and/or religious grounds); Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97), of the International Labour Organization, art. 3. CERD/C/RUS/CO/23-24, CERD/C/ISL/CO/21-23, CERD/C/NOR/CO/23-24, CCPR/C/CZE/CO/4, CERD/C/GRC/CO/20-22, CERD/C/MDA/CO/10-11, CCPR/C/NLD/CO/5, CCPR/C/HUN/CO/6, CCPR/C/CHE/CO/4, CCPR/C/SVK/CO/4, CCPR/C/AUT/CO/5 and CCPR/C/GBR/CO/7.